A Fast Radio Burst (FRB) Capture Sys tem for the Onsala Space Observatory

Abstract

The discovery of the fast radio burst (FRB) in 2007 was an important moment in astronomy due to FRB’s unique property, which helps astronomers explore how the universe expanded and gives clues to study celestial phenomenons such as the ap pearance of neutron stars. The purpose of this thesis is to explore and develop a new digital backend system for Onsala Space Observatory to capture FRB events in real time and reduce the data rate. A trigger mechanism that can flag the FRB can didates is implemented. Only when potential FRB candidates are detected, signal data would be buffered and saved. We implemented polyphase filterbank channel ization to generate the signal’s spectrum in real time. Moreover, we implemented incoherent de-dispersion algorithms to compensate for the frequency-dependent de lay. Filtering and averaging are introduced to improve an FRB’s signal-to-noise ratio. We first built the system model in MATLAB and analyzed the simulation results. We also demonstrated the hardware implementation of the FRB capturing system and tested the system with a signal generator. The test results showed that our system is able to capture FRB events and reduce the data rate compared to the current system in Onsala Space Observatory.